Merry Christmas everybody! big thanks to staff, contributors, and participants like you for keeping this community going. special shoutout to shywolf for making the above image and thus inspiring this post.
2018 is winding down. for me, it was a life-changing heartbreaker, but good things happened too. i traveled a lot - experienced unforgettable and often unexpected realizations, and in the process learned more about myself and this complicated little world we all share. (if ever you have an opportunity to travel, please do yourself that favor, and then travel even more when you can again because the gained awareness that comes from it is totally worthwhile. well, i guess that’s… advice?)
i like this photo because the road sign is a reminder that horizons aren’t always as they initially seem. if only life itself was that predictable! …captured in Phuket, Thailand.
looking forward into 2019, my commitments to aloha.pk and Build and Shoot will continue. i’m wanting to also build unrelated ideas i’ve been brainstorming over the years that might interest some of you. i’ll explain more about any of that when i’m ready.
here’s to another year! what are your goals, New Year’s resolutions?
I begin my final semester of college in exactly two weeks. I will be student teaching high school math.
For me, my relationship with gaming and my online presence has changed dramatically since my first arrival at aloha; I have to say that my interest of gaming and computers is strong but is overshadowed by other interests, such as family, friends, and adventure. On top of this overshadowing of interest, many realizations have come on my own end. What I can say is I am comfortable and in a great place in my life.
With that said, 2019 scares me.
I plan on partaking in an month long backpacking trip around Europe with my girlfriend. Any suggestions and tips will be great, but we are somewhat experienced travelers and are capable of on the spot planning and trouble shooting, so we are trying to keep planning to a minimum.
So, I guess that’s me…Sorry I’ve been away. aloha has been my other home for as long as I can remember, my online home, but I’ve grown up and “moved out” so to speak. I’ll make sure to come over for dinner every once in awhile
right on, Froe! sounds like things are Froing :-X i mean flowing well for you.
it’s definitely not for everyone, but on-the-spot travel planning is the best kind of travel for me. maybe just enough research beforehand to get a general gist about an area, and a prebooked place to stay for at least the first couple nights sure takes off a lot of stress upon arrival. too much planning can be stressful, too inflexible, and just outright boring. so much more fun when unexpected adventures happen on the spot!
for example, what was supposed to be only a few hours of driving to watch sunrise over Phang Nga Bay, Thailand:
…unexpectedly turned into a free all-day adventure floating through the bay… with a full-on buffet included! that happened because i saw a “pier” sign on the return drive and i decided at the last second to just check it out. why not? and while observing the bay from the pier, my new friend who was with me (we met and clicked a few days prior) was offered the prepaid seats of a couple who was exiting a boat that was about to depart for the day tour because they changed their minds. that same couple coincidentally saw us earlier watching the sun rise from the top of the hill. he asked me if i’m up for it, i nodded yes, so we parked our motors right there on the pier, and literally stepped onto the boat as it was pulling away.
sighted in Santa Barbara, California.
